Multidisciplinary Arts

Dialogue with a Flower-Crowned Man of Thorns

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Organised by Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

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Dialogue with a Flower-Crowned Man of Thorns
20-21 June 2026, 14:00 hrs.
Studio, 4th Floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)

The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre invites you to a dialogue with an artist who harnesses anger as a force to create and reflect on Thai social structural issues. This project invites you to re-examine the artist’s life path and body of work, not as a solo retrospective, but as a collaborative process of “reading” and discovery alongside six co-creators.

When an AI was tasked with researching Teerawat Mulvilai’s performing arts through the lens of theatre and art theory, it coined the term “Post-dramatic Political Physical Theatre.” While this term was an AI synthesis, it is undeniable that Teerawat’s work intersects these three pillars (Post-Dramatic, Political, and Physical Theatre), while inhabiting other unmentioned categories.

However, looking back at audience feedback, the notions which emerge and reflect on emotional impact are disjointed from theory: “biting,” “heavy,” “tragicomic,” “bitterly funny,” “sublime,” “exhausting for the performers,” “provocative,” “bold,” and “I didn’t understand it, but I felt something.”

Some theatre practitioners and observers have “stopped” watching Teerawat’s work, citing reasons such as it being too furious, too demanding of the audience, excessive confrontation with the audience, or leaving them feeling too overwhelmed.

What kind of person creates performances that tackle social issues through beautiful mise-en-scène, yet leave the audience in a state of simultaneous amusement and tension? How did they grow up? What are they “on”? These questions serve as the birth of “Dialogue with a Flower-Crowned Man of Thorns,” a collaboration between Teerawat and a group of artists including Nicha Puranasamriddhi, Kamonpat Pimsarn, Nontawat Numbenchapol, Dujdao Vadhanapakorn, Sarut Komalittipong, and Kawin Bhichitkul.

The process evolved through a series of dialogues, both collective and individual, incorporating interviews and recreational activities. This foundational research then transitioned into the rehearsal room, where the ensemble activated Teerawat’s archives. They began by reading and recreating the script of “Goda Gardener.” This piece was originally written and staged by Teerawat in 2006 during his residency at Taipei Artist Village, born from stories of his personal family loss and interviews with Thai laborers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The process also involved re-examining materials used in previous performances, such as oil drums, aluminum wire, plastic sheets, road barriers, and plates under new hypotheses.

“Usually, when I work, there’s a specific topic or story I want to tell. So, I work with materials for finding ways to use them to drive that narrative. But for this project, I wanted to start with the body in relation to the material; to react, to respond, and let the story emerge from the dialogue between the body and the object.” Teerawat explains regarding his approach on retrospection, which is in dialogue with the ensemble’s experiments in sound, sculpture, movement, and moving images within a performing arts laboratory.

Dialogue with a Flower-Crowned Man of Thorns is a performance built on artistic dialogue. It strives to maintain a space of radical equality throughout the creative process to convey four core concepts: The Oppressed, The One Nurtured by Art, Counter-Reaction, and a hypothetical conclusion reached at this stage: I will always laugh at you, The Oppressors.

Collaboration Artists:
Performer: Dujdao Vadhanapakorn, Sarut Komalittipong, and Kawin Bhichitkul.
Sound Designer: Kamonpat Pimsarn
Multimedia Designer: Nontawat Numbenchapol
Scenography & Costume Designer: Nicha Puranasamriddhi

Dramaturg: Jaa Panthachat

– Free Admission

E-program Dialogue with a Flower-Crowned Man of Thorns